The ‘Great Game’ between India and China for strategic influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) continues, while their troops remain locked in a military confrontation along the land borders.
The docking of a frontline Indian warship, guided missile destroyer INS Mumbai, at Colombo on Monday morning coincided with three Chinese warships doing the same, generating some waves in the neighbourhood. “Chinese warships, including those part of its anti-piracy escort forces, are now staying in the IOR for a much longer time than earlier,” an Indian defence establishment official said.
“The expanding Chinese naval presence in the IOR, along with Beijing’s hunt for additional logistical turnaround facilities in the region, has become a major challenge for India,” he added. To be sure, the 140-warship Indian Navy certainly needs adequate force-levels to “take care” of Pakistan and “deter” China in the IOR.
The Indian Navy closely tracked the three Chinese warships, destroyer Hefei, and landing platform docks (amphibious ships) Wuzhishan and Qilianshan, with a combined crew of almost 1,500 personnel, right from the moment they entered the IOR till their docking at Colombo on Monday morning.
Sri Lanka welcomed INS Mumbai, which is commanded by Captain Sandeep Kumar with a crew of 410 sailors, as well as the Chinese warships “in compliance with naval traditions”. INS Mumbai and the Chinese warships are scheduled to separately hold “passage exercises” with Sri Lankan warships on their departure, again coinciding on August 29.
Having already lost out to Beijing in the Maldives, with the Mohamed Muizzu govt signing a defence cooperation pact with China and forcing India to withdraw its military personnel operating a Dornier aircraft and two advanced light helicopters, the docking of Chinese warships at Colombo will obviously not go well down with New Delhi. India, in the past, had registered its strong protest with Colombo when it had permitted Chinese warships, spy vessels and submarines to dock at Lankan ports.
Amid this strategic tussle, all eyes are now on the Sri Lankan Presidential elections slated for Sept 21. For India, President Ranil Wickremesinghe is still a better bet than Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People’s Power, which is perceived to be pro-China.
